A stakeholder map visualizes the ecosystem in which a product or service operates from a specific perspective. Here is a quick overview on how to create and analyze a stakeholder map.
What’s a stakeholder?
A stakeholder is a person, organization or aspect that has a certain interest in or relationship to a specific topic or business. For example, the customer or an employee could be a stakeholder, but also government and service providers, or even something like a digital platform or device.
What is a stakeholder map?
Stakeholder maps help you understand the ecosystem of your product or service. Customers interact with many internal and external stakeholders during their journey: they use different products or services, various devices and platforms, communicate with diverse departments through different channels.
A stakeholder map is a visual representation of this ecosystem of stakeholders involved in a customer experience. It helps to understand who is involved, to reveal existing formal and informal relationships between stakeholders, to identify frictions between them, and to find new business opportunities by establishing new relationships, fostering existing ones, or creating alternatives.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A STAKEHOLDER MAP
Stakeholders (including personas)
The main actors in your system can be freely arranged on this large circular map. Their position depends on what you want to visualize, but usually your customer should be in the centre — at least if you try to be a customer-centred organization.
Categorize in circles
Categorize your stakeholder by using three circles on your map. According to your project, this could be for example: essential/important/interesting or internal/external directly/external indirectly. Use whatever makes sense to structure your ecosystem. After placing your stakeholders on the map, check if they are currently on the position where you really want to have them, or if you need to to adjust your processes and service in order to move them to another field. E.g., is your customer really the most essential and central part of your service development, or do you need to shift your development focus to become more customer-centred?
Relationships
Stakeholders have certain relationships with each other. In many cases, a transaction or value exchange takes place between them. Use the stakeholder map to illustrate these relations. This will help you to see what stakeholders are connected, and to discover lacks or synergies. For example, if the same transaction happens twice e.g., filling out a form with the same information. Or if some transaction is missing e.g., forwarding information with some department that would need it.
In the end it’s crucial to discuss the stakeholder map with your team and maybe even invite some of the stakeholders to see if your map really reflects the status quo.
Further learning materials
You find a cheatsheet on how to create a stakeholder map here.
A video tutorial on the what and why of stakeholder maps here.
For details on the difference of stakeholder maps, value network maps and ecosystem maps, have a look on this slide deck.
